In one conventional acceleration control system for a vehicle, when a target speed of vehicle travel is set, vehicle acceleration control is executed so as to automatically assume the target speed (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,020, JP 3-76247B). According to this system, immediately after the start of control, the target speed is set at a value higher than an actual vehicle speed by a predetermined value and, thereafter, the target speed is linearly increased. When the target speed is linearly increased as above, the acceleration becomes nearly constant (unchanged).
When the vehicle is constantly accelerated up to the target speed, however, the driver often feels the controlled operation scary or finds the controlled acceleration offensive.
In another conventional acceleration control system for a vehicle, to realize acceleration that matches driver's acceleration feeling, an acceleration characteristic is selected depending upon the individual driver's ability and drive feeling, and the acceleration control is executed based on the selected acceleration characteristic (for example, JP 6-255393A).
When the acceleration is controlled by selecting an acceleration characteristic depending upon the individual driver's ability and drive feeling, the acceleration characteristic must be adjusted in advance to match the individual driver's ability and drive feeling. This adjusting operation is cumbersome and, besides, a number of acceleration characteristics must be provided.